


FFVII's Leading Ladies

by Metabird (wheatear)



Series: Character dynamics [1]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Character Analysis, Character Study, Female Friendship, Friendship, Gen, Meta, Nonfiction, Relationship Study, Rivalry, Spoilers, Trope Subversion, character comparison
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 14:27:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23042407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wheatear/pseuds/Metabird
Summary: Aerith, Tifa, and what they are and are not. A meta analysis of FFVII's two heroines.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough & Tifa Lockhart
Series: Character dynamics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1654255
Kudos: 8
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	FFVII's Leading Ladies

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this waaaay back in 2010 and am cross-posting now for the March Meta Matters Challenge, but also because the remake is about to happen so I'm looking forward to seeing whether it matches my interpretation of these characters. What do you reckon, did I get it right? Will the remake stay true to the characterization of the original game? Not long now until we find out...

I'm going to talk about Aerith and Tifa. Because I love them.  
  
Specifically, I want to talk about how Aerith and Tifa are foils to each other. They are similar in some obvious ways: both kind and caring and all that good heroine-type stuff. What I find more interesting is how they are different in ways you might not expect.  
  
_Final Fantasy VII_ is a deceptive game, and it is deceptive with its characters as much as anything else. Aerith looks like she's the sweet, innocent one, doesn't she? The pink dress, the staff. She's your gentle white mage. Whereas Tifa looks like the tough girl. She's the girl who can knock you out if she doesn't like you, so look out for her attitude.  
  
Only what I just said is all wrong. Aerith isn't only sweet, she's mischievous. There's nothing innocent about her; she knows exactly what she's doing. You can't possibly describe her as meek. Aerith - and this is where we see a big contrast with Tifa - doesn't bury her own feelings or desires for the sake of others. That's not to say that she's utterly selfish. Her attitude is more like, "Hey, let's go play at the Gold Saucer! It'll be fun!" Which is taking what she wants to do and applying it to everyone else. Aerith is a fun-loving, lively person and she wants to share her passion for life with her friends.  
  
With Tifa, there is no denying that she is physically tough, but that's not exactly true when it comes to her personality. I think there's something tragic about Tifa. She's never going to be happy because when it comes to those close to her, she always puts them first. Actually, it's worse than that; she makes her happiness dependent on others, almost like she's living through them. And when that person is Cloud, it's a recipe for disaster. Aerith will play at the Gold Saucer because it looks like fun and it makes her happy. Tifa will play at the Gold Saucer because her friends want to have fun. Even if she's feeling miserable.  
  
This is why, when it comes to their rivalry, Tifa is doomed from the start. She's too shy, too passive, too unsure of herself. Aerith has the confidence to get what she wants and the will to go ahead with it. Maybe if she really knew the extent of Tifa's feelings, she might back off a bit. But Tifa already backed off for her; she buries her feelings and can't manage anything more than the occasional catty, jealous comment.  
  
To put it bluntly, Aerith and Tifa can both be bitchy in different ways. Aerith is callous. Tifa is resentful. But all this makes it sound as though they're bitter enemies, and they're really not. It reflects well on both of them that despite their rivalry, Aerith and Tifa are good friends.  
  
This is how I interpret their friendship: Aerith leads and Tifa follows. Aerith is the dominant one. Aerith is actually really good for Tifa because her exuberance for life cheers Tifa up. (Now that I think about it, it's not that different to Zack and Cloud. Zack and Aerith are similar; Cloud and Tifa are similar.) Aerith's playfulness brings out Tifa's playfulness - Tifa is the kind of person who reflects the atmosphere around her, whereas Aerith is the kind who creates it.  
  
They have an instant connection; they immediately understand each other. Tifa is good for Aerith because she supports her, and she has a very strong sense of empathy so that she can comfort Aerith on those occasions when Aerith is feeling down. Tifa is someone Aerith can rely on and trust.  
  
Another interesting thing about them is that they both have things to hide. Tifa is pretty much the master of this. I like characters who lie, and Tifa certainly does a lot of that. I've said already that she hides her feelings, but it's more than that: her whole persona is a mask. Tifa's profile in the game booklet says something like this: _Bright and positive, Tifa always cheers up the others when they're down._ Is she really? No, not always, but she puts others above herself. She can be desperately unhappy and still act bright and positive.  
  
Even more than that, I think she lies to herself. Her reason for joining AVALANCHE was pure, selfish revenge, but she justified it to herself that they were saving the Planet. She has real issues with certain emotions - the selfish ones, the most deeply personal ones. She gets better at this over time, but it never quite goes away and it causes a lot of communication problems.  
  
Aerith doesn't have these insecurities, because she has something bigger to face: her Cetran heritage. This is what Aerith struggles with - she has to hide who she is from Shinra, and she tries to present herself as normal. This makes some of Aerith's persona a mask as well - that care-free girl, teasing Cloud, asking him out on a date? She's not confronting her real issues there. She's just playing, throwing herself into the moment because she doesn't know how to face who she is.  
  
Aerith copes a lot better with this than Tifa does. She understands that it's a burden, something that she has to face alone. Tifa struggles with her emotions are largely internal, but Aerith's can't be, not when the world is in danger. Aerith is headstrong and independent, and she chooses to go off and save the Planet alone. That's the moment when she embraces who she is as a Cetra completely.  
  
Here's another big difference between them: Tifa's world is much smaller than Aerith's. Tifa is hung up on Cloud, and Nibelheim, and the remnants of her past. At a vital moment, when Cloud is sick, Tifa chooses to forget about saving the world and stays to take care of Cloud instead. I don't think Aerith would do that. Aerith sees the bigger picture. Aerith has the priorities of someone who has been chosen to take care of the world, not just individuals, and she abandons the party for the greater good.  
  
Tifa's family is the most important thing in the world to her. Literally. Everything is personal for Tifa, even when she pretends it isn't. (See again: joining AVALANCHE.) I think Aerith would be willing to cast off those things. Of course, Aerith does care about her friends, and of course, Tifa does care about the world in general. But they view the world from different angles.  
  
I think that's the key thing. Even when their reactions are the same, they're born out of very different approaches to life. Aerith's kindness is not the same as Tifa's kindness. Their feelings for Cloud are not the same. In fact, I might argue that both of them have an unhealthy love for Cloud. Ever since _Crisis Core_, it looks as though Aerith's attraction to Cloud is largely due to her unresolved love for Zack. That makes Cloud the rebound relationship, and however much she likes Cloud, he's not Zack. She never really gets to know the real Cloud.  
  
Tifa's feelings for Cloud are born out of the _idea_ of him as her hero, not the reality. She has that one talk with him at the well and then she imagines him as the brave SOLDIER coming to rescue her. Her image of Cloud is completely idealised. She only starts liking him when he's not there. Issues galore. She gets to be the one who finally does meet the real Cloud, but it's really quite lucky that he doesn't disappoint her. Maybe he does. It can't help that he's the only link to her past, to Nibelheim. Even her idea of them being childhood friends turns out to be a lie.  
  
Basically, both women are in love with a person who is not really Cloud. The poor guy has a lot to live up to.  
  
The same happens with Aerith to some extent. Aerith gets idealised because she died. Not just by fandom, I think by the characters too. She's presented as an angelic figure, a saviour. In many ways, she is. She's the guardian of the Planet now, but only seeing her as an angel is doing her an injustice. Aerith is a person too. She doesn't feel like an archetype, a symbol. She feels real.   
  
I love Aerith's character for all her flaws, for her passion for life. I love Tifa because she's so complex, and I still feel like I've only scratched the surface here.


End file.
